The Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind has decided to take the Darul Uloom anti-terrorism resolution-passed at a gathering of Muslim scholars in Deoband on February 25-”to the masses”. In fact, the Jamiat is planning a massive gathering on May 31 with participation from across various Muslim sects. Sources said the inspiration was the 1995 Million March in the US, where a record number of African Americans took to the streets. Saying that so far there have just been “seminars and conferences” on terror, Jamiat general secretary Mehmood Madani Madani said it had to be made “clear that elements claiming any sympathy or inspiration from clerics or the scriptures are simply out of line and misplaced”. The thinking is that each time there are terror attacks, assumed to be perpetrated by some supposedly inspired by ‘militant’ Islam, there is all sorts of pressure on the largest minority community. The clerics believe it is, therefore, necessary to establish that there is mass anger amongst Indian Muslims as well against acts of terror.
